NTCC addresses crisis of casualisation

Tricia Daly, Chair, National Tertiary Casuals Committee

As a collective, we include a diverse range of casual representatives, organisers, strategists, policy makers and activists. Our fundamental aim is to ensure casuals have a voice, are visible and actively participate within the NTEU. We draw on casual work experiences to inform National, Division and Branch campaigns. Our intention is to educate the public, influence the political sphere, and to change current policy on workplace casualisation.

Current NTCC actions

We are in the process of collecting Recently, the NTCC identified critical empirical data on budgets, and casual staff resource areas to empower casual members numbers. This data will demonstrate to the in higher education: Government the grave situation university casuals are currently experiencing.

We are calling on Vice-Chancellors to speak out against the Morrison Government’s current dismantling of quality higher education in Australia.

We put forward concrete and realistic demands to challenge the priorities of university management. In a recent survey of casuals, the following demands ranked highest on the list of deeply and widely felt concerns:

• Ongoing access to libraries to prepare course material and conduct research.

• Advance notice of work.

• Inclusion in departmental decision making.

• Conversion to secure teaching positions.

The NTCC provides a national voice to campaigns against casualisation in higher education. We are working alongside the NTEU to build knowledge, provide training and organise casuals for campaigns focusing on casual issues.

To build power, the NTCC encourages casual members to reach out to nonmember casuals to join the NTEU. We educate and organise colleagues, family, friends and the wider public on the need to protect and defend quality education, and to highlight the exploitative working conditions of casuals.

NTCC resourcing and funding

Recently, the NTCC identified critical resource areas to empower casual members in higher education:

• Creating an NTCC webpage on the NTEU website for information sharing, journal We are calling on Vice-Chancellors articles, news media, online sites etc. to speak out against the Morrison

• Increasing empirical data, stories and Government’s current dismantling of research on casuals. quality higher education in Australia.

• Inclusion of casual surveys and a casual We put forward concrete and realistic perspective in NTEU surveys. demands to challenge the priorities NTEU support in these areas will enable of university management. In a recent survey of casuals, the following demands ranked highest on the list of deeply and widely felt concerns:

NTEU support in these areas will enable the NTCC to retain new casual members, train and organise casuals, and coordinate national casual campaigns and collective actions.

The NTCC moving forward

The NTEU three-month suspension on fees for new casual members, along with the organising strength of the NTCC have seen a significant increase in new casual members.

At the time of writing, over 2000 new casual members had joined the Union.

Our future casual campaigns will continue to incorporate the following key areas: a strategy, a decision-making structure and a participatory division of labour.

The NTCC’s core asset is our casual members’ commitment to more equitable and just working conditions, and the proper funding of the Australian higher education sector.